


The Failed Initiate

by predilection



Series: The Determined Pair [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series - Jude Watson & Dave Wolverton
Genre: Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 03:39:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6549061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Qui-Gon is furious at the Council when he discovers a young initiate named Obi-Wan Kenobi traveling alone on a transport to Bandomeer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Failed Initiate

**Author's Note:**

> This is fix-it fic for the first book of the _Jedi Apprentice_ series, The Rising Force, in which Qui-Gon acts the way I wished he had acted when he first met Obi-Wan. This involves him yelling at the Council, because honestly, all the jedi masters needed to be yelled at in this book.

The Corellian barge that was to take Qui-Gon to Bandomeer was not the worst ship he had traveled aboard in his lifetime, but it was definitely in the top three.

Though the ship was space-worthy, it did not look it. The outside was pockmarked with damage from old battles and the interior corridors were literally falling apart, making wires and conduits easily visible. It was also filthy. Every surface was covered in what appeared to be years' worth of grime, and the smell of unwashed bodies assaulted his nostrils.

To make matters worse, the passenger roster listed an uneven split of miners from rival mining corporations. One of the corporations -- Offworld Mining -- was known for its intimidation and harassment of its competitors. He suspected that there would likely be conflicts on board the ship and that his journey to Bandomeer would be anything but peaceful.

Before he even found his cabin, he heard loud thud and a shout up ahead in the halls and sighed -- there was already a fight in progress. He turned a corner and found a Hutt holding a young human male up against the wall of the corridor by his throat. "What do you think you're doing, slug?" the Hutt asked, sneering at the human. 

The boy raised his hands to neck. His eyes wide in surprise, he stuttered out, "What?"

Qui-Gon was moving before the Hutt could reply. A moment later, the boy was back on the ground, and Qui-Gon was standing between him and the Hutt, his arms crossed over his chest. "What seems to be the problem here?" he asked.

The Hutt growled. "This Arcona spy is on Offworld's side of the ship."

"And so you would strangle a child?" Qui-Gon asked.

The Hutt eyed Qui-Gon, taking in his robes and the lightsaber clipped to his belt. "Of course, you jedi always side against us Hutts. You claim to be fair, but you never are." He glared at the boy and then said to Qui-Gon, "Ensure that I do not see him again this trip." 

The Hutt retreated, and once Qui-Gon was sure that the danger had passed, he turned to the boy. On closer inspection, the boy looked to be in his early teens. He was wearing plain grey tunics, and Qui-Gon could sense his fear. Qui-Gon's first thought was: _Who would send a child to Bandomeer?_

Then he spotted the lightsaber on the boy's belt. Qui-Gon noted that the boy lacked a padawan braid. He took a deep breath to steady himself and asked, "Who are you here with?"

The boy sighed. "I'm not here with anyone."

The boy was alone? "Then why are you aboard this ship?"

The boy looked away, and ran a hand over his face and into his hair. "I'm to become a farmer." When he met Qui-Gon's gaze again, he looked defeated. 

"You are an initiate?" 

"Not anymore," the boy said and snorted.

"The Council is sending you to _Bandomeer_?"

The boy crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, it's not like I'm ever going to be a jedi knight." His tone was defiant, but it seemed like his defiance was born from wanting to hide how badly he was hurting.

Qui-Gon closed his eyes and drew the force into himself to stay calm. "What is your name?" he asked the boy.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," the boy said in the same defiant tone.

"I am Qui-Gon Jinn," he said and considered his options.

The ship was still docked. If he acted quickly, there was still time to right this wrong, though it would mean postponing a mission given to him by the Supreme Chancellor himself. It would also mean the absence of a peacekeeper on this volatile ship. Qui-Gon felt the eddies in the force -- they pointed to the wrongness that he felt around the boy -- and made his decision.

"Come with me," he said to Obi-Wan, and began walking back towards the cargo hold and the ship's boarding ramp. He glanced over his shoulder. Obi-Wan was following him. Qui-Gon noted the small bag the boy carried over his shoulder -- one that was barely enough for a change of clothing, let alone any personal effects. "Is that all you brought with you?" 

The boy nodded. "Where are we going?" he asked when he realized they were leaving the ship.

"To pay a visit to the Council," Qui-Gon said.

Obi-Wan let out a noise that sounded like surprise. "What for?" he asked, and now Qui-Gon could feel hope coming from him, enough to overpower the defeat and fear he had felt since meeting him.

Qui-Gon recognized that particular sense of hope. He had felt it before from other initiates. "I have no interest in taking you as a padawan," he said, and almost instantly the hope vanished. Before it could be replaced again with defeat, he added carefully, "Though I do not think you should be sent to Bandomeer."

*

"On your way to Bandomeer you both should be," Yoda said when Qui-Gon stood before the Council, Obi-Wan standing a few steps behind him radiating confusion.

"I am here to discuss precisely that," Qui-Gon said. "Was it the Council's decision to send Obi-Wan Kenobi to Bandomeer?" 

"That was the will of the Council," Mace Windu replied. "Why have you interfered? Do you wish to take Obi-Wan as your padawan learner?"

"No," Qui-Gon said. He turned and gestured for Obi-Wan to step forward. The boy did and Qui-Gon asked him, "When did you come to the Temple?"

Obi-Wan seemed thrown by the question but replied, "When I was an infant."

"And how many times have you left the Temple without a knight or master present?"

Obi-Wan hesitated. "This was the first time."

"Thank you, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said and turned his attention back to the Council. "I am here to ask the Council why it sent a child to Bandomeer, knowing the danger he would face both on his journey there and on the planet itself."

Qui-Gon did not let the Council reply. He continued, "I am here to ask the Council why it thought this child should be unaccompanied, given these circumstances and his inexperience with the realities that lay outside the Temple. I am here to ask the Council why it decided that a child should be removed against his will from the only home he has ever known. I am here to ask the Council why it decided, yet again, that a child who dreamed of becoming a knight should have that dream taken away from him because of his age and the lack of available teachers."

Qui-Gon did not yell. He spoke every word calmly and precisely, having surrendered most of his own anger to the force. When he was finished, he waited patiently for the Council's response.

"Your feelings on initiates you have told us before," Yoda said. "Changed they have not."

"I found the boy aboard his transport being strangled by a Hutt," Qui-Gon said.

"He was jedi initiate. He was far from defenseless," Mace pointed out.

"I recognize that Obi-Wan could have gotten himself out of that situation without my assistance. That is not my concern. My concern is that he should not have been put in such a situation in the first place," Qui-Gon said.

"If you are so worried about Obi-Wan, perhaps you should be the one to accompany him to Bandomeer, since you must still go there yourself," Mace suggested.

Qui-Gon could hear what he wasn't saying -- that if Qui-Gon cared for Obi-Wan, that he should take Obi-Wan as his padawan. Qui-Gon had not taken a padawan since Xanatos, and if he was to take one again, it would not be to simply let the Council off the hook for their actions. Besides, he barely knew Obi-Wan.

"That is not an adequate solution to the issue at hand. I ask that Obi-Wan be allowed to remain at the Temple until a suitable master is found for him." Obi-Wan did not move or make a sound, but Qui-Gon could sense that this is what the boy wanted.

"He is almost thirteen," Mace said. "And the decision has already been made. Obi-Wan is to report to the Agricultural Corps."

"Has anyone asked him how he feels about this decision?" Qui-Gon asked.

"His decision it is not," Yoda said, but his ears were drooping.

"Perhaps it should be," Qui-Gon said.

"The decision has already been made," Ki-Adi-Mundi said, speaking up for the first time and repeating Mace's earlier words.

Qui-Gon put a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "Then I will ensure his safe passage to Bandomeer. However, I urge the Council to reconsider this decision." 

Obi-Wan looked up at him, eyes wide with confusion but also wariness. There was nothing Qui-Gon could say to reassure him that wasn't an empty promise. It was unlikely that the Council would change their mind, and they both knew it. 

*

The second ship Qui-Gon boarded to Bandomeer was infinitely more pleasant than the first. It was well-kept, clean, and only had perhaps twenty other passengers on board, none of whom seemed interested in harming each other. 

Obi-Wan shared a cabin with him, but was virtually silent for much the journey. Qui-Gon did not ask Obi-Wan what troubled him. Obi-Wan had lost his home and his dream, and Qui-Gon could feel his grief coming from him in waves. He often went to Obi-Wan and squeezed his shoulder, and although he felt Obi-Wan relax a little more each time, he knew the action did little to comfort him.

On their third day in light-speed, when Qui-Gon put a tray of food down next to Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan looked up at him and said, "I know I need to stop thinking about becoming a knight, but... now I want to be one more than ever."

Qui-Gon crouched down next to him. "Why is that?" he asked.

"What you said to the Council got me thinking about what has happened to me, and about... about all the other initiates that have had the same thing happen to them. I mean, I know jedi aren't supposed to let their fear control them, but I have spent the last year scared that I wouldn't be chosen -- that I would end up being sent away."

Obi-Wan was silent for a moment, but his eyes were blazing with something other than grief when he added, "It was awful. _This_ is awful. And I want to be a knight so I can do something about it -- so I can make sure no one else has to feel like this." His voice broke at the end of his argument but he didn't look away from Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon could feel his determination -- a sense of justice boiling just under the surface of his small frame. Gone was the profound sense of defeat Qui-Gon had felt before.

Taken aback, Qui-Gon could only stare at Obi-Wan. When Qui-Gon had stood before the Council, he had not known Obi-Wan's capabilities. Qui-Gon had been angered by Obi-Wan's situation and had simply wanted him to have a chance to become a padawan. Bearing witnessing Obi-Wan's obvious strength, Qui-Gon felt angered anew, for now he knew that Obi-Wan would have made a wonderful padawan if only given that chance.

Three days ago, Mace had asked Qui-Gon, "Do you wish to take Obi-Wan as your padawan learner?" His answer then had been no, but as he watched Obi-Wan channel his fear and grief into passion for the greater good, he began to reconsider his answer.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is continued in [The Haunted Master](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6549136).


End file.
